EU IS ONCE AGAIN SEEKING TO DICTATE ISRAEL'S POLICIES

"We will not accept any foreign dictate over our borders," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clarified on Tuesday after a European Union directive limiting financial cooperation between the EU and Jewish bodies in the settlements was revealed. On Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry and Netanyahu himself were busy urging EU officials to defer implementing the decision, which could cost Israel billions of dollars, until after peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians are exhausted, Israel Radio reported.

The directive means that the EU will not longer, for example, be party to any economic, social or academic arrangement with an Israeli institution that operates beyond the pre-1967 borders, which includes Judea and Samaria, east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.

In a pointed announcement Tuesday, Netanyahu condemned the directive. "I would expect anyone who truly cares about peace and stability to make time to address this particular issue only after solving some far more urgent issues in the region, like the civil war in Syria or Iran's race toward obtaining a nuclear weapon," Netanyahu said. "As prime minister of Israel, I will not allow hundreds of thousands of Israelis who live in Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights and Jerusalem, our united capital, to be harmed."

"We will not accept any foreign dictate over our borders. The issue will be resolved only through direct negotiations between the parties," Netanyahu declared.

The TV anchorman Dan Margalit's called this a "yellow star for settlers". In a way, that's just what this is, and any EU members who follow this directive and don't think for themselves should be ashamed. They're not worth doing business with, and should concentrate on what they know are the real issues at stake.